Fifty seven degrees and sunny when we pushed away just after seven this morning, with a nice breeze coming out of the south; unfortunately, we were heading south; it was going to be a long day in the saddle; maybe a wagon train isn’t such a bad idea.  Picked up our frontage road just out of town, sandwiched tightly between the interstate and railroad.  This would be the day of few pictures, as we were blocked from anything to see by traffic lanes.  We crossed the Big Horn River,lost our pavement for a bitthen made a quick switch to the other side of the interstate, which afforded us better views and took us by a very sobering monument.  The Apsaalooke Veterans Park tells the grim story of an Indian heritage lost.  Shortly down the road was the Battle at Big Horn Museum.

 It was a good time to take a break from the wind, soak in more history and get refreshment at the last food stop before the end of our ride.  Shortly before ten, our road and the railroad unexpectantly split from the highway; the quiet and scenery returned!  This slight turn in the road also served to put the wind just off our right, so the onslaught was slightly tempered; perfect, since the wind had turned up a notch.  We were able to relax slightly and take in the vistas.

It was almost noon and we were suffering from the continuous uphill and battle against the wind.  Almost like a mirage, we saw a grocery store through the trees.  It was a wonderful break for food and cold drink.  Sorry we did not take a picture of the incredible fresh fruit bowl of raspberries, strawberries, bananas and blueberries, but it was consumed too fast to focus.  Leaving from this stop, our course turned a bit more to put the wind just at our shoulder.  With no trees to break the wind, the slight turn was what we needed in order to continue; even the occasional train was welcomed for it’s wind buffering effect.  Our usual afternoon cloud cover did not happen; shade was sought after by all.

At 50 miles, we found a lone tree to take refuge under to enjoy an orange before the gradual climb became much more noticeable.We enjoyed the quick down only to climb again relishing the idea of the next drop that took miles to come.We were jazzed to cross the border and enter a new state,the rain on the distant Big Horn Mountains looking very refreshing.Once again we were saved by an honest to goodness old time bar,proof;not sure we would have made it our last ten miles without it.  Finally we reached our downhill and wind so strong that on the flat road, we were doing 22 mph without pedaling; the wind was howling.  We were still exhausted.  After almost 7 hours in the saddle and 73 miles, we were hungry.   Fried pickles, salad and Chicken Fried Chicken (with gravy) was just the ticket!  On our walk back from dinner, the wind had completely died.

Bedtime!